A new year is ahead of us with new challenges, opportunities, ideas and endless possibilities. There is so much to do, so much to look forward to and mold ourselves and our business as per upcoming trends to make the most of 2011.
To help you choose the right path we contacted several experts who carry knowledge, expertise and years of experience in eCommerce and Social Media to provide you with tips and give you the right advice. Priceless insights that will take eCommerce entrepreneurs a step further in the year 2011.
We contacted these wonderful people with one question:
"Looking at the developments in eCommerce in the past decade, what is that one advice which will take aspiring eCommerce entrepreneurs a step further in the year 2011?"
And here's what they have to say:
Beth Balcum
"I think that video marketing will be the 'wave of the future'. Youtube is the third most viewed website in the world right now! So I think honing video marketing skills may be a great idea for e-commerce entrepreneurs in 2011, because I don't see the popularity of Youtube decreasing anytime soon. So using video marketing to their advantage might be a great way to promote your business!"
"I think that video marketing will be the 'wave of the future'. Youtube is the third most viewed website in the world right now! So I think honing video marketing skills may be a great idea for e-commerce entrepreneurs in 2011, because I don't see the popularity of Youtube decreasing anytime soon. So using video marketing to their advantage might be a great way to promote your business!"
Website: Balcum
Bob Walsh
"If you look at the past decade, very little has really changed in the e commerce world - PayPal dominates, various other players continue to do their thing well or get bought out, micro payments are just over the horizon, banks and other financial institutions remain clueless. On the other hand outside of e commerce, everything has changed: 2 billion people now use the Internet, hundreds of thousands of new micro ISVs create, market and sell mobile Apps, traditional boxed/desktop applications are on the way out. Don't be afraid to create disruptive ideas and execute them well - we need them!"
Chris Garrett
"I think if I look at my experience over the last decade of eCommerce I think the clear trend is the rewards go to the people who show up and take action!
All too often we have great ideas and for whatever reason, doubt, risk, fear, uncertainty, comfort zone, procrastination or analysis paralysis, we let someone else execute faster and with more determination. A toll like E-junkie allows us to get something out there, test the market, and start something cool. We don't have to be perfect right away, it is more important to take the first steps and let the market decide if we have something useful or not."
Website: Chrisg
Chris Pirillo
"You can't win if you don't play." Instead of holding yourself back by waiting for perfection to be achieved, just put something out there and roll with the punches. You'll be wiser for that experience, especially when you realize that success can only come if you do something in the first place."
Website: Gnometomes
David Meerman Scott
"To create great Web content, you need to always be thinking: Nobody cares about my products and services except me and the others in my organization.
What your buyers do care about are themselves and they care a great deal about solving their problems (and are always on the lookout for a company that can help them do so).
Stop being egotistical. Instead focus your web content efforts on creating information that helps buyer solve problems."
Ivan Walsh
"The difference between success and failure in E-commerce is about using the right tactics with the right tools. Tactics means formulating a plan of attack that increases your sphere of influence whereas tools, such as E-Junkie’s shopping cart, give you the platform to deliver on this promise."
Judy Dunn
"From content marketing standpoint, if you are creating information product the competition out there is fierce. With the explosion of eCommerce sites, it will be crucial in 2011 and to 1) refine and specifically define your niche audience and 2) provide the exact, specialized content those customers are looking for."
Liz Strauss
"If you want action, you have to start with attraction. People need a reason to care about what you care about before they'll do, move or buy. Give a thought to how doing what you want (buying your product or service) might benefit us. Show us how we'll be heroes, have more time, or enjoy a better life. Then make it ultra easy to do and even easier to tell our friends about it."
Michael Lee
"It's crucial to have an affiliate program. This is the ultimate form of leverage. That's because even if you know how to drive tons of traffic to your sites, your time or money will still be limited. But if you have an affiliate program you can have many affiliates or JV partners do whatever you're doing, and multiply the results several times. Some may even have more resources (subscribers, contacts, traffic, etc.) than you may have, making this a no-brainier method to boost your business."
Mike Moran
"Focus on repeat business. You and all of your competitors work like crazy to attract people to your site, using search marketing, display ads, and dozens of other techniques, and you use multivariate testing and plenty of other tactics to raise conversion rates. But how do you get your customers to come back?
Ask your self why your customers shouldn't use Google or shopping search engines or any other means to find the lowest price the next time they want to buy something, rather than coming back to you. If you can't come up with a good answer, now is the time to work on that. Is your information more helpful? Is your experience more convenient? Are you more reliable? What is your differentiating attributes and how do you expand them and promote them to your audience. Moving beyond transactional profit to Lifetime Value will help you make the right decisions that help you and your customers."
Pam Perry
I love my online PR Pro Shop! The first thing I would do is brand your online store with a name and unique URL and post it on everything - including your email signature, at the bottom of every auto-responder message and blog post. It's critical that you promote the store "passively".
The other thing I would definitely do is make sure you have a video "sample" of the product. People want to feel comfortable with you - so demonstrate that you are a real person via 1-2 min video - and be authentic just like you would in person and tell why they buy your product. Stress benefits - not features. The more comfortable you make a prospect feel, the more they will buy from you.
The last thing is to make sure you set up an affiliate program for all your products and tell others about the affiliate opportunity on a regular basis - especially those who have bought your products. If they love what they bought, of course they will tell others - and by passing a commission give them a big incentive."
Sunny Jacobson
"Maintaining the Customer Retention Ratio (CRR) is the biggest thing to survive in long run and then the online conversion assessment (OCA) is complementary for the same in online business. In 2011 we would be focused to work on the said two things for our online projects and would have been striving to maintain a high returning visitors ratio by improving our content and graphics to our online assets”
Website: Worldwebexperts
Zack Lim
"The 1st important thing is to have the correct mindset that the internet business is a real business. The aspiring E-commerce entrepreneurs must be willing to commit their time, effort, and money into growing the business.
The 2nd important thing is to follow a simple system that works. Simplify the whole business model so that the entrepreneur will not be confused and suffers from information overload. There are too much content on the internet and making the business model simple will make the life of the customers easier."
Website: MyAffiliateMarketingOnline
Thanks to all the experts for sparing some time for us and our readers that helped us compile such an insightful post. If you wish to add your views, then please feel free to share them in the comment section below.
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Thanks Kanika,
Great honor to be included with these folks.
Regards,
Ivan
Great information from wise and knowledgeable people, thank you all for sharing it through the great "e-junkie" This is information that will really help me. Thank you e-junkie....
Thanks so much for the opportunity to be included among the eCommerce experts, Kanika. These are helpful and practical answers to a valuable question.
@Ivan: Pleasure is all mine. And thank you for your much appreciated advice. Its an honor for us to have all you wonderful experts on our blog. :)
@Sarah: There's no better feeling than our readers telling us that they found our project or article to be useful. Thanks for such sweet words Sarah. :)
@Michael: Valuable advices from experts like is what has made this article valuable. It has been great working with you...thanks for your cooperation Michael. :)
Thanks so much for the opportunity to be included among the eCommerce experts, Kanika. These are helpful and practical answers to a valuable question.
@Ivan: Pleasure is all mine. And thank you for your much appreciated advice. Its an honor for us to have all you wonderful experts on our blog. :)
@Sarah: There's no better feeling than our readers telling us that they found our project or article to be useful. Thanks for such sweet words Sarah. :)
@Michael: Valuable advices from experts like is what has made this article valuable. It has been great working with you...thanks for your cooperation Michael. :)
Great information from wise and knowledgeable people, thank you all for sharing it through the great "e-junkie" This is information that will really help me. Thank you e-junkie....
A new year is ahead of us with new challenges, opportunities, ideas and endless possibilities -
W75300T30X
VALVE COMPLETE 35 GA
The 2nd important thing is to follow a simple system that works. Simplify the whole business model so that the entrepreneur will not be confused and suffers from information overload.
W75300T30
VALVE COMPLETE 35 GA